I think whatever they build it obviously will have to be in a more urban typology which probably means they wont be able to have a large football field. A solution would be to have a gymnasium or use the roof like they do in New York and then have the football and sports teams share some facility with another school.

I think it is really important to build a new school. As a former PPS student I can attest to the fact that all the facilities are in preity bad shape and I assume that they have only deteriorated in the last decade since I went there.

With all of the criticisim of PPS people still have to realize that most families in Portland send their kids to public school, from the richest people living in the West Hills and Alameda to the poorest people. This is a preity remarkable fact considering most families in big cities with means would never send their kids to public school. However, if the city is going to stay like this it means building new, modern, facilities so people will continue to send their kids to public schools in the future and not to private schools.

The streetcar public house was held last night at Lincoln H.S. In speaking to the project manager, he mentioned that Conway had already requested streetcar access to their property. I would not be surprised if the streetcar and new H.S. efforts dovetail at some time in the future. What I WOULD be suprised by is if the athletic facilities get short shrift. My impression is that Lincoln H.S. parents mix a lot with Lake O. parents (e.g. at the MAC); have you SEEN L.O.'s facilities? The Lincoln parent group recently raised close to a $1 million for the new Lincoln artitifical turn surface. Their standards are high, and I don't think they would accept a high school without nice athletic facilities if the city is building anew. My kids won't be going to Lincoln for over 10 years, but when they do I expect there'll be a new high school.

It might make sense to extend the streetcar north in the pearl and run the east west part down Pettygrove into the new conway development. Right now lovejoy traffic going over the broadway bridge is slowing down the streetcar, the more northern route should help that problem.

I"m fairly confident that Conway will get streetcar service and thus Lincoln could also get it if it moves.

The north pearl planning group has discussed serveral street car options with PDOT

One is similar to the one mentioned above of running through the pearl in a more northern loop to connect with Conway. Raleigh is Conway's 'main street' although it could run on another street.

Another option discussed is to run the streetcar along Naito to pick up the new Cent. Mill redevelopment...potentially using the existing rail ROW and then crossing the tracks at Thurman and looping south to pick up Conway.

Either way I can't see the Conway development going forward without some kind of deal to get the street car.

This rendering shows one of six proposals to rebuild Portland’s Lincoln High School.

Despite the Portland School Board’s decision to delay asking voters for a multi-million-dollar bond sale to upgrade and rebuild its facilities this fall, Lincoln High School is taking its future into its own hands.

A committee charged with studying the school’s long-term redevelopment options issued a report on Monday that presents six options for modernization and expansion.

The report comes after nearly two years of study; now it’s headed to the Portland School Board sometime after a public meeting set for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday, at the Lincoln High School cafeteria, 1600 S.W. Salmon St.
Located in the midst of prime real estate in Southwest Portland’s Goose Hollow neighborhood, the affluent and high-achieving school has been so overcrowded over the past decade that storage and cafeteria spaces have been converted into windowless classrooms and enrollment last year was limited to neighborhood students.

Next fall, due to a large graduating class, Lincoln will open 50 slots for transfer students. The 1952 building was originally designed to hold 1,200 students; this year there were 1,400 enrolled. Last year Lincoln was rated the district’s most dense school building, in terms of overcrowding.

Lincoln debate team coach Alison Brody, a 1991 alumnus and one of of two primary authors of the report, said that in her time, about a third of the school’s population was made up of transfer students.

“I see what it’s like, now versus then,” she said. “There’s a real richness missing, a diversity of all kinds. It was more of a Portland high school as opposed to being a West Hills high school.”

The report presents five options for redevelopment at the current school site:
• Modernizing or rebuilding the school.
• Remodeling it with development on its adjacent sites,
• Building a campus of four buildings around a central courtyard.
• Rebuilding the school on the west side of the site, with a new field and underground parking below as well as two blocks of partner development on the east side of the space.

A sixth option is to sell the current site and relocate elsewhere.

There’s been some talk by developers of relocating the school to the 11-acre undeveloped site owned by Con-way Inc. between Northwest 23rd and 19th avenues, north of Northrup Street. The report says that is not the only possible new location, however, although it does not name any other specific sites, noting that more research is needed.

All of the options would house about 1,800 students in 300,000 square feet of space, about a third larger than the school is currently.

The committee feels this expansion is ideal “so LHS can maintain its International Baccalaureate, International Studies Center and Spanish Immersion programs, participate in 6A athletics and sustain a full band and choir,” the report states.

The committee also said it wants to enroll more transfer students, expand program offerings and boost overall enrollment in the district.
“However,” the report cautions, “expanding LHS and increasing transfer opportunities could impact other schools in the district. This issue needs to be carefully considered through the district’s upcoming High School planning effort.”

District leaders are currently engaged in a separate process to reform and realign its high schools, since many, like Lincoln, are bursting, while others are hurting for students due to program cuts and past low achievement.
Brody said the committee is consulting with district leaders as well as other school communities – Jefferson High, Benson High and Hollyrood/Fernwood School – looking at ways to address their facility problems. Money an issue

As far as funding strategies, the Lincoln committee hopes to use bond money from a potential PPS facilities levy in 2010. But it has also identified other sources that could supplement those funds.

The report estimates that a new Lincoln High School of the desired size would cost $90 million to $125 million in 2010 dollars. The report uses $110 million as a base number, and presents three scenarios that would use a combination of Portland Development Commission’s urban renewal funds and real estate development strategies.

Currently, the school doesn’t sit in any urban renewal area so it doesn’t qualify for those tax increment revenues. But the committee is hoping that if the PDC creates a new urban renewal area or expands the successful River District urban renewal area to include the Lincoln property in the next few years, some of those funds could be used to improve the school.

According to the report, real estate options include:
• Selling the land (to net $10 million).
• Leasing it to a private developer for about $1 million in revenue each year.
• Utilizing new market tax credits (a federal program to finance community development projects).
• Selling excess floor-area-ratio (essentially the air space above a building) to developers.

Brody said an optimistic goal is to have a new school open in eight to 10 years.

In the meantime, students and teachers will have to bear with the existing conditions – not only overcrowding, but an outdated facility that includes active mold spores in the classrooms, drinking water that’s unsafe to drink and regular overflows from bathrooms and sinks.

As is the case at many schools in the district, the list of problems goes on: the heating and cooling systems are faulty, the bleachers are condemned, and there’s no working cafeteria space due to the conversion to classrooms.

“The facility is rundown,” Brody said. “A lot of kids complain about the (poor ventilation in the) science lab. There’s tremendous stress on the athletes, who have to work out at 6:30 in the morning or 9 at night. It forces a number of unreasonable situations on the students and their families.”

Sell the property to developers and build the new high school over the 405. Build an open community sports fields and parks on another couple caps over the 26 - 405 interchange. Jointly build the new sports fields with PSU, opening up land for PSU expansion on campus on their current sports fields.

Sell the property to developers and build the new high school over the 405. Build an open community sports fields and parks on another couple caps over the 26 - 405 interchange. Jointly build the new sports fields with PSU, opening up land for PSU expansion on campus on their current sports fields.

They should consider building a couple of floors of parking and some school facilites under the athletic field in that proposal. A few hundred spots should be able to generate quite a bit of income long-term for the school district.

I enthusiastically agree with Mark. I'm sure it would be insanely expensive (not to mention a huge challenge for engineers), but the benefits all around could justify it. In addition to Phoenix's library, the Margaret T. Hance Deck Park, a huge green space, sits on top of this section of the downtown freeway. If you don't know this project, check it out on one of the bird's eye mapsites. Of course, Phoenix had a lot of open space with which to work; Portland's freeway cap would be much more of a squeeze. And the disruption to traffic would be pretty interesting, don't you think?

Despite PGE Park and Multnomah Athletic Club, the Goose Hollow neighborhood has never attracted many businesses.

Neighbors and business owners want to change that. Goose Hollow residents believe the area can become a better transition point between downtown Portland and the West Hills.

As part of their efforts, they’re pushing the district as a candidate for Portland’s next hot “Main Street.” The corridor could fall either on Southwest Jefferson or Columbia street.

They also believe that two ambitious projects — fully renovating Lincoln High School and placing caps over parts of Interstate 405 — could drive business growth within the 165-acre neighborhood.

Such longshot projects depend on at least two factors. The neighbors want the city to include Goose Hollow in a proposed urban renewal area that would include four near-downtown quadrants. City officials could decide whether to add the new area at a Feb. 19 meeting.

The other issue: Portland Public Schools is completing a study that could shut down at least one district high school. As a result, school officials say even discussing Lincoln’s proposed makeover brings protests from other schools.

Goose Hollow neighbors have yet to study the costs of any I-405 work. The closest comparison comes from former Mayor Vera Katz’s 1998 proposal to put a cap spanning two blocks over the freeway. Planners estimated it would have cost between $1 million and $1.5 million, in 2000 dollars, to simply erect a two-block wide concrete foundation over I-405.

If nothing else, the early efforts to bring more businesses to Goose Hollow could spotlight issues that began in the 1960s when I-405 and Highway 25 were built. The moves prevented easy pedestrian access to downtown and points south.

“The population’s characteristics were markedly different here after the freeways were built,” said Jerry Powell, chairman of the Goose Hollow Foothills League’s land use and planning committee. “There was a lot of disinvestment. It’s our contention that we can bring Jefferson and Burnside back.”

The Goose Hollow neighborhood has 3,800 residents, 90 percent of whom are renters. Half the population lives at what the city considers “low-income” levels.

Area business operators even envision Goose Hollow becoming a destination neighborhood when there are no PGE Park or Lincoln High events.

“Having a ‘Main Street’ in the area, perhaps by bridging or capping the freeway, would help us rejoin downtown,” said Norm Rich, the Multnomah Athletic Club’s general manager. “There aren’t a ton of businesses here.”

Powell acknowledges that adding buildings, parks and more pedestrian crossings across the top of I-405 would require lots of planning and money. He nonetheless points to similar projects that have helped such cities as Phoenix and Cincinnati connect neighborhoods and business districts across freeways.

“It’s really expensive, but if we take the overpasses and put a parallel bridge structure on them, then build two-story commercial buildings on each of them, we can do it at a fraction of the cost,” he said. “It would be cheaper than building new structures” that span across the freeway.

Lincoln High School boosters have discussed ways to renovate the crumbling school for years. In 2008, a group introduced a long-term plan that included building the school vertically and adding mixed-use options to the lower floors.

To do so, the school district would almost certainly need to work with urban renewal funds. A new high school costs at least $100 million. Urban renewal areas are funded by tax revenue generated by incremental increases in value (“increments”) within the areas’ boundaries. The money can only be used to pay for improvements in the areas being renewed.

The committee exploring whether to create a new Portland urban renewal area includes Portland Mayor Sam Adams, Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler and several business representatives. Wheeler, who’s questioned whether urban renewal is worth the funds it extracts from schools and county coffers, said this week he’s not sure where the group stands on establishing a new renewal district.

If the district takes shape, a top Interstate urban renewal area developer likes Goose Hollow’s potential. Peter Wilcox, a principal with Mississippi Lofts LLC, believes the district could benefit from its proximity to downtown.

“I don’t know if it’s good for a major stand-alone business district, but certainly, there’s energy there,” he said. “There’s at least a need for a core that’s complimentary to local retail. There’s not even a food store there now.”

Jim Fisher, vice president of Jim Fisher Volvo, would rather see any local business growth happen organically.

“It would only help to have more businesses in the neighborhood because it would give us more visibility,” he said. “But I’d hope the city would leave us alone and not build high-density projects on top of our car dealership.”
GOOSE HOLLOW

• Boundaries: From north to south, roughly between West Burnside and Southwest Cardinell streets and, from east to west, between Interstate 405 and Washington Park.

• Income: 52 percent of residents living in the area under consideration for urban renewal earn less than $25,000. Another 43 percent earn between $25,000 and $100,000.

I am surprised this area hasnt already been an urban renewal district. I do support the ideas with the caps over 405, and this would definitely be the easiest way to make that happen...also, it surprises me that Goose Hollow really doesnt have any street that acts like a "main street" for it. I never thought about that before, but there really is nothing but housing in that neighborhood....besides PGE, the club, and a few random bars of course.

New Business:
Arbor Vista Condominiums:
Markus Simons, current chair of the Arbor Vista Condominiums, addressed the Board on behalf of himself and not as the voice of the Arbor Vista Board. It was noted that six of the 27 condo owners were present at the meeting. He related his concerns over the proposed new apartment development located along Jefferson between SW 20th and SW 21st which would be across the street on SW Howard’s Way. He felt that the proposed 9 story building was out of scale with the neighborhood. The proposed project has only provided 98 parking stalls yet the building will have 140 units which would exacerbate the already existing parking problems in this area. Other concerns voiced were the following: view corridor to Vista bridge, lack of street trees or trees on site, the removal of a heritage tree from the site, Lobby entry location along Howard’s way and its impact on Vista Arbors property, future dogs and their impact on the area. The point was brought up that the proposed site is compact and did not allow an area for staging for construction. Markus had concerns about what kind of disruption and impact this would impose on the residents of Vista Arbor. Markus indicated that the development as proposed would have a large financial impact on those owners at Vista Arbor based on concerns addressed above. He asked the board to consider what was appropriate for the neighborhood.